What Does the Field of Child Development Help Us to Understand - Assignment Example

The biological, physiological, and psychological changes that children experience during the years of adolescence can all be understood as explaining the component parts of childhood development. In this way, subject matter experts can work to unravel the causations and factors that contribute to an array of different actions, emotions, thought processes, and factors that influence individuals well into adulthood. As such, the use and application of childhood development to ascertain salient information on the “why” component of why individuals act, behave and think a certain way is greatly advanced by the study and application of this body of knowledge.

Q2) "How do environmental agents such as drugs and pollution impact the fetus and ultimately a child’s growth and development?"

Biologically speaking, any chemical substance that is ingested by the mother while the fetus is still in the womb has a direct effect on the development of the child. Furthermore, drugs and the effects of pollution can inversely affect the healthy growth of the developing child and cause it to experience birth defects, congenital health issues, and or a host of behavioral problems that may not be immediately visible and/or take time to fully develop. In this way, childhood development as a function of what inputs a mother takes or ingests into her body during pregnancy has a powerful effect on the way the fetus develops within her.
It is for this reason that successful counseling of the mother with regards to what to abstain from and what to avoid during the formative months of pregnancy and breastfeeding is of such vital importance. Without proper education and information relayed to at-risk mothers, the infant and the mother are at risk for a great number of preventable health problems that could lead to a host of developmental problems for the unborn child in the future.